Top 10 Discontinued McDonald's Foods We Miss the Most

Top 10 Discontinued McDonald's Foods We Miss the Most

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They may be gone, but our stomachs haven’t forgotten these tasty treats. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 McDonald’s Discontinued Items We Miss. For this list, we’re ranking the most delicious and well-remembered options on the McDonald’s menu, that are no longer available for the majority of the franchise’s customers. Some of these items may be available in one country, or in select McDonald’s locations, but for the most part, these discontinued items have gone the way of the dodo.

What do you order when a Quarter Pounder with Cheese just isn’t enough? Enter the Angus Third Pounder. This big time burger was introduced in 2009, and was enjoyed for a too-short four years, during which time the sandwich proved relatively popular with customers. One caveat to the Angus Third Pounder was that it ran for about $4.49, which made McDonald’s a little nervous that their customers wouldn’t continue to order it over the chain’s more affordable sandwiches. This led to the item’s dismissal from the menu in 2013, although some franchises in Australia and Argentina reportedly still carry this bacon and beef bonanza.

The year 2013 also saw the introduction of a new, leaner, and more portable style of menu item. Not only were McWraps supposed to attract millennial eaters; they were also a way for Mickey D’s to sell a product in a market dominated by Subway. The smaller-sized wraps advertised preservative-free ingredients and a lower caloric count compared to main menu fare, but this didn’t quite draw in the customers the way McDonald’s had hoped. Although franchises in places like Croatia still offer the McWrap, McDonald’s employees largely saw it as too time-consuming for how small it was, so it got the boot.

It’s nothing new for fast food companies to release a promotional tie-in on their menu for a popular film. It’s also not new for foodies to look up retro and nostalgic eats on the Internet. It’s another thing entirely for someone to bid over fourteen THOUSAND dollars on a twenty-year-old packet of Szechuan dipping sauce inspired by Disney’s “Mulan.” That’s exactly what happened in April 2017 after the season three premiere of Adult Swim’s “Rick and Morty.” The show inspired a resurgence of love for the discontinued sauce. So, is Szechuan Sauce worth its weight in gold? Maybe not, but worth a little Internet trolling? Sure, why not?

Have you ever wanted to dump your salad ingredients into a plastic container and shake it up, just for the hell of it? Well, then you probably grew up in the ‘90s, and remember this classic menu item. It was the McSalad Shaker, and it came in a trio of styles: Garden, Chef, and Grilled Chicken Caesar. Customers could pour the dressing in through the top, and then shake, shake, shake to mix it in with the leafy greens and other additions. Then voila! Instant salad! Unfortunately, the idea of a McDonald’s salad, even in shaker form, didn’t sell too well at that time, and the product was eventually discontinued.

If dining at Mickey D’s in the ‘90s was all about shaking your salad, then a meal at McDonald’s during the 70s and 80s might have been defined by this confectionary treat. McDonaldland Cookies were the franchise’s dessert du jour of the time, a boxed up container of delicious, crispy cookies in the shapes of all the McDonald’s mascots. Ronald, The Hamburgler, and Mayor McCheese were all present, and for a while were given out in an iconic handled box. These days, McDonaldland Cookies are a mostly discontinued rarity, and are only sold in select stores, like those in Australia.

#5: Hot Dogs

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We know what you’re thinking: “McDonald’s is known for burgers and fries, but... hotdogs?” The idea does sound weird, and maybe that’s why the company’s brief flirtation with frankfurters didn’t go so well. Former McDonald’s CEO Ray Kroc voiced how against the idea he was, but this didn’t stop Mickey D’s from trying the concept out during the mid-90s. The McHotDog enjoyed a brief run of success at the turn of the millennium and into the 2000s in areas like Toronto and Pennsylvania before being discontinued.

“The beef stays hot, the cool stays crisp.” This was part of the catchy little ditty used to promote the McDLT, a weird but beloved McDonald’s’ fast food experiment. Maybe it was the accompanying commercial with Jason Alexander that sold us, or the novel concept of fresh, crisp vegetables, as opposed to a soggy burger mess. But how could they solve such a problem? Well, McD’s had a special box, with one side for the warm ingredients, and the cold, crunchy components safely separated in another. Some fans loved the McDLT, while others simply shrugged it off in favor of other fare. For our money, we still miss snapping that Styrofoam container together and assembling our sandwich. Right, Jason?

These days, there’s nothing new about a fast food chain advertising fresh ingredients for an elevated style of burger. The Arch Deluxe was a novel concept for 1996, however, and reflected McDonald’s desire to appeal to an adult demographic. The quarter pound burger was served up with veggies, peppered bacon, and secret sauce, and was actually way above the average bar set by other fast food chains of the time. Still, the Arch Deluxe’s comparatively high price tag hurt the burger’s sales, and it was soon discontinued, despite a massive promotional push. Versions of the Arch Deluxe still exist in countries like France and Russia, but under the moniker of “Royal Deluxe.”

#2: The Supersize Combo

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If a little is good, then a lot must be better... right? Well, yes, or at least that must be the reasoning behind McDonald’s’ Super Size Combo. This was when an average meal combo from the restaurant’s value menu could be “supersized” to include a bigger fry and drink for only a small extra amount. This tactic of “upselling” not only gave the customer an increased sense of value-for-money; it undoubtedly helped McDonald’s bottom line as well. The practice of Super Sizing was eventually phased in 2004, however, as the franchise decided to focus on more health-conscious menu items for its consumers. Before we name our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions! - Onion Nuggets - Cheddar Melt - Mighty Wings

The idea of McPizza may seem as foreign now to diners as the idea of the McHotDog or McSalad Shaker, but the truth is that McDonald’s’ take on fresh pizza actually sold quite well when it was first introduced in the 1980s. The main problem with McPizza was the 10 or 11 minutes it took to get one made, which is an eternity in the high volume world of fast food. The pizza pies portions were then changed from full sized to personal sized, and eventually phased out entirely. But don’t lose hope! As of 2017, there were still two McDonald’s locations that still served up McPizza: Pomeroy, Ohio and Spencer, West Virginia!